Nearly 600 Tucson business leaders have shared their priorities
for the 2009 Arizona Legislature with Tucson Regional Economic
Opportunities, the economic development agency for Southern
Arizona.

Those priorities do not center upon tax cuts nor tax climate,
survey results show. Rather, business leaders who responded to the
Dec. 5-11 online survey believe funding for K-12 schools and higher
education should be maintained, and economic development tools
should be enhanced. Lower priority was given to transportation
infrastructure funding, as well as technology and communications
infrastructure funding, the survey results showed.

“Results of the 2009 Legislative Priorities Survey indicate that
funding for education and enhancing economic development tools are
of great importance to Southern Arizona leaders,” said Joe Snell,
TREO’s president and chief executive officer.

Business leaders need a pipeline of workers for skilled
positions, and they want public school systems that encourage
bright, much-coveted technology workers to move their families to
Southern Arizona, according to David Welsh, TREO senior vice
president for strategic partnerships. They said as much in the
survey, different than others TREO has done because it asked
business people to prioritize issues.

“You might assume an answer from the business community might be
an answer having to do with taxes, with getting as many tax breaks
as possible,” said Laura Shaw, TREO senior vice president for
corporate and community affairs. Instead, this survey “clearly
showed it was about education,” and “more long-term, systemic fixes
to our challenges.”

Through the survey, and through contact with the community and
meetings with legislators, Welsh sees “somewhat of a disconnect,
from our perspective,” on how business leaders and government
decision-makers view the priorities.

“Consistently, we are hearing the number 1 issue for growth and
jobs is not necessarily our tax structure, it’s our ability to
attract and keep the talent that we have,” Welsh said. “In our
conversations, taxation does not come up,” yet “it’s a high
priority for legislators.”

Welsh is “a little perplexed by this. Companies we are
retaining, and trying to relocate here, it’s predominantly a labor
play and a talent discussion, not a tax structure question.”

Survey results “clearly showed the priorities,” Shaw emphasized,
“yet when legislators talk about how they’ll prioritize … they’re
still talking about cuts in economic development tools, cuts in
funding for education, everything we’re saying is the most
important seems to be targeted for the biggest cuts.”

Welsh recognizes the Legislature faces a budget shortfall.
Arizona may have as much as $1.2 billion in unfunded spending plans
as the Legislature prepares to begin its 2009 session.

“This is a difficult year to be getting heard over the
cacophony, the beating of the budget drum,” Welsh said. “Clearly,
it’s a very interesting time. We have the national situation, we’ve
got huge changes about to happen politically for our state, and
you’ve got the local economic situation playing out.”

Information in hand, TREO is “trying to assess where we put our
efforts to be most effective,” Welsh said.

“We’re convinced these are the times to use agencies like ours
to get out of this” by emphasizing how the Arizona economy can look
“as we do emerge” from recession, Welsh said.

“TREO will use the survey results to work closely with
legislators in the coming year in order have an effect on state
budgeting decisions,” Snell said in a release. “In a tough economy,
decisions made now by our legislators will be critical to the
future of our local economic development efforts.”

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Tucson Local Media photographer J.D. Fitzgerald, right, shoots a simulation gun in reaction to a situation during a training put on by the Pima County Sheriff’sDepartment. PCSD invited members of the media to their training center on South Rita Road to further their understanding of use of force protocols. Mediamembers were given a 90-minute lesson on the policies, ethics and laws regarding use of force. To read the full story and to watch the video, visit www.tucsonlocalmedia.com.